Live While You're Alive
by Cyclothymic
Summary: Marlene is bored while studying. Sirius has a fix, involving cross-country travels and avoiding her questions. Written for deant33


Marlene was studying, and beginning to doze off. It was a Saturday, with NEWTS coming soon. Lily was sitting across from her, recopying her notes from Transfiguration - or was it Charms, now? - completely transfixed, and oblivious to Marlene's boredom. She jumped when the portrait door closed and whipped around, hoping that it was someone that could amuse her. Seeing that it was only a few first years, she groaned and took out her wand, deciding that she would entertain herself.

She was on her fifth piece of parchment that she was levitating and attempting to send into the fire, but younger students kept getting in the way. "Accidentally" levitating one of the fifth years homework and almost sending it into the fire was likely the most amusing thing that happened, but she felt mildly awful when the girl almost burst out crying because it was an important document. Marlene shrugged at her outburst and decided that she would begin taking other student's classwork, but it wasn't as amusing as she thought, so she was extremely grateful when the Marauders came waltzing into the common room. She heaved a sigh of relief when they started walking towards her and Lily.

"You look bored," James commented, kissing his girlfriend on the cheek. She immediately dropped her attention from her homework and focused on James, causing Marlene to scowl. Why couldn't she pay attention to her?

"Extremely, your girlfriend doesn't keep good company while she's studying," Marlene responded to James, who shrugged.

"Do you want good company?" Sirius put his hands on her shoulders and she jumped slightly, but launched to her feet as soon as she registered what he'd said.

"Let's go." Adventures with Sirius never ceased to disappoint. She jumped out of her seat and he grinned, leading her out of the common room. She didn't particularly care where they went, just so long as she had Sirius and a good time. He led her out of the castle and off of the grounds, which interested her very much.

"So, where are we going?" she finally asked, and he answered with a smile on his face.

"Dunno yet." he led her into the Three Broomsticks, where the matron smiled and nodded in greeting at them. Sirius walked up to the counter and asked for Floo Powder. She looked at him curiously, but followed him to the fireplace.

"The Leaky Cauldron!" he announced after throwing the powder in, taking Marlene with him. Once they'd gotten to the designated fireplace, Marlene landed with a faceplant in ashes.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed, and a hand pulled her up. She heard Sirius laughing before she opened her eyes to see him, wiping the ashes away from her eyes.

"You look a little bit ashy," Sirius told her after he'd stopped laughing. Once he spoke that, he started laughing once more. Marlene shook her head and laughed at the awful joke, casting a spell on herself to get rid of the ashes. "Hey! You laughed!"

"Only because you're so awful at telling jokes," Marlene told him, grinning. He returned the grin, and pulled her over to the first person that they saw. She was alone, with a drink in her hand, and looked like she was trying to hide. Her hair was bright and blonde, her skin pale as she tilted her head down, staring at the dark liquid in her glass.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Sirius slid into the seat across from her, folding his arms on the table in front of him. She looked up, her eyes a deep blue color. Marlene could tell that she was used to getting attention, and the woman scowled at Sirius for disrupting her alone time. When she didn't respond, Sirius asked another question. "Where are you from?"

"What?" the woman asked, and they could hear her thick french accent. Sirius nodded and jumped up, pulling Marlene towards the fireplace once more.

"Sirius, where are we going?" Marlene asked, and he turned around with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

"We're going to France."

And so to France they went. Then they went to Austria, Hungary, and now they were in Germany. They had hopped from country to country, leaving the fireplace for a moment just to find another person to ask where they were from, and they were back into the Floo network.

"The ash is never going to come out of my hair," Marlene grumbled, trying to rake her fingers through her hair and feeling a multitude of knots in her hair. She groaned when she pulled her hand out of her hair to find ashes mixed in with her black curls.

"Don't worry, we're done!" Sirius exclaimed, pulling her out of the bar again. "We're in Germany!"

"I know we're in Germany," Marlene told him. "Why are we done?"

"I wanted to come to Germany the whole time," Sirius told her like it was obvious. Marlene looked at him incredulously as he flagged down a cab.

"You wanted to come here the whole time, and we Floo'd to 4 different countries to get here?"

"Of course," Sirius winked at her and she rolled her eyes. Sirius said something to the driver, Marlene wasn't paying attention as she attempted to separate the knots in her hair once more. She had finally yanked her fingers through the final one when the cab halted, and Sirius was pulling her out.

"Where are we?"

"Let me worry about that." Marlene huffed; she didn't like not being in control, and Sirius was very aware of that fact, which is likely why he was doing exactly what he was doing now. They'd only been on the curb for a minute when Sirius had stuck out his wand, summoning the magic bus for Germany. He silently handed the driver a piece of paper and pulled Marlene farther into the bus.

"What was on the piece of paper?"

"Marlene, when will you learn to stop questioning me?"

"When you provide me with some answers," she said under her breath, and he laughed at her again. The bus jolted, and she grabbed onto the pole tightly to stop her from face-planting once more. Her stomach began getting queasy. "I'm starting to regret coming."

"No you're not, I'm the most entertainment you've had all week." Marlene didn't want to admit that it was true, so she stayed silent. Sirius knew that it was true by the smirk that he gave her. Surprisingly, he stayed silent until it was time to get out.

"Where are we?" Sirius didn't bother answering her this time, only continuing pulling her along still. Marlene rolled her eyes. He pulled her into a forest, at which she planted her feet.

"No. Absolutely not. I'm not going in there."

"I know what I'm doing. Don't you trust me?" Sirius asked her, and she shook her head.

"Not enough to follow you into a forest!"

"It's barely a forest. I've been here before. Come on," Sirius tried getting him to come along with him again, and she shook her head once more. "I will pick you up."

"No you will not!" Marlene insisted, and Sirius made the move to pick her up, at which she jerked backwards. "No."

"Let's go," Sirius gestured, and she sighed heavily.

"Fine." Marlene followed Sirius through the forest, which, like he said, was hardly a forest. They were out within minutes, and the trees broke to reveal one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen.

There was a small lake in the middle of the clearing with stones surrounding the lake. There were trees all around the lake, which made it perfectly secluded. She looked around amazed. There were small ripples in the otherwise clear lake, and Marlene walked up to it, balancing herself on the stones. She stared down at the lake, seeing her reflection in the water. She also saw the moon, half full reflected in the clear water. The stars were twinkling, and they were also reflected, but looked at the sky in pure amazement. Hogwarts was secluded enough so she could see every star while there, but other then that, she'd never seen so many stars. Being purely mesmerized, she didn't notice when Sirius walked up next to her.

"You gotta live while you're alive, Marlene."


End file.
